Florida Man Charged In Fiance`s `87 Death

November 13, 1989|By William Recktenwald.

More than two years after 22-year-old Kimberly Yeates of Wilmington was found beaten to death near Morris, 60 miles southwest of Chicago, authorities announced Sunday they have charged her fiance with murdering her.

A warrant charging Keith Woyciechowski, 35, with first-degree murder was issued Friday, according to Grundy County Sheriff James Olson.

Woyciechowski, who lived with and was engaged to Yeates, was taken into custody Friday evening by Hillsborough County police in Lithia, Fla., where he now lives, Olson said.

``We had never stopped working on the case,`` Olson said. ``We recently got a key piece of new evidence which allowed us to get a warrant.``

Although Olson would not elaborate on the new evidence, he said Chief Deputy Terry Marketti along with State Police investigators had interviewed more than 300 people in the investigation. ``Many were interviewed over and over again,`` Olson said.

The case will be presented to a grand jury by Grundy County State`s Atty. David Neal on Dec. 6, Olson said.

Woyciechowski, who ran an auto body shop, had lived with Yeates for several years after she graduated from high school. The couple planned to marry in September, 1987.

Yeates was last seen just after 8 a.m. June 1, 1987, in the parking lot of the General Electric Nuclear Storage and Training Center in Morris, where she worked as a secretary. Her Ford Escort was found in the parking lot with the window open and driver`s door ajar, but with no indication of a struggle, police said.

Yeates` body was found by a farmer in a field five days later. Her skull had been smashed with a large blunt object, police said.

Yeates had taken her car keys, wallet and coffee cup with her when she left the car, leading police to speculate that she knew her assailant.

``Why else would she have taken her coffee cup with her,`` Marketti said at the time.

Only hours after her disappearence, Yeates` wallet and credit cards were found on the side of Int. Hwy. 55 near Dwight, 20 miles from Morris, police said.

Woyciechowski is being held on a $1 million bond and Grundy County deputies and state troopers are in Florida now to bring him back, Olson said.